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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23467702">unpack my heart with words</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereigatesquire/pseuds/thereigatesquire'>thereigatesquire</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hamlet - Shakespeare, SHAKESPEARE William - Works</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Iambic Pentameter, M/M, Poetry, Shakespeare, Short, Sonnets, Tragedy, conclusion, denouement, love sonnets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:35:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>938</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23467702</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereigatesquire/pseuds/thereigatesquire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of poems inspired by William Shakespeare's "Hamlet."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hamlet/Horatio (Hamlet)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. V.i.234</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Who is this delicate prince, who has of late lost all his mirth?<br/>This prophetic soul, who wishes devoutly for death's consummation?<br/>Who wears his best friend in his heart's core,<br/>And calls out to him when death is swift in his arrest?<br/>This dramatic youth, who was born to set things right?<br/>The rightful Dane, who unpacks his heart with words?<br/>The archetypal procrastinator, the epitome of indecision?<br/>V.i.234</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. the rest is silence</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A conclusion to "Hamlet," since it lacks some good rhyming couplets at the end.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>So ends the tale of this ill-fated Dane,<br/>With many dead and Denmark's future vague.</p><p>Revenge, though just, hath left the state unwell,<br/>And only one lone love survives to tell</p><p>The twisted, murky history weaved of gloom,<br/>And of the weighted pause that hath wrought doom.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. in my heart's core</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Next up is an alternating series of sonnets Hamlet and Horatio penned to each other. I'd like to think that Hamlet sent his, but Horatio kept his to himself.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strike>To Hamlet:</strike>
</p>
<p>Thine owner, beating heart, thou hast betrayed,<br/>
To fly and tenant with the Royal Dane.<br/>
Thou set thee up for weeping in the morn,<br/>
When, as thee must, thou break with deepest woe.<br/>
For thee were not to noble stature born,<br/>
Which no amount of yearning could bestow.</p>
<p>O why, mine heart, did thee not stay with sense?<br/>
From safe philosophy thou hath flown hence.<br/>
You’ve set a new, unfathomable course,<br/>
That only burns the ocean in thine wake.<br/>
From logic’s head thou’ve thoroughly divorced;<br/>
Love for the Prince can only end in ache.</p>
<p>But as with Hamlet thou art firmly lodged,<br/>
We’ll see if fixed tragedy can be dodged.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dearest Horatio,</p>
<p>In faith! Who held those words I bled in truth<br/>
Were meant for old Polonius’s youth?<br/>
That girl would never pause to ponder on<br/>
The constant, endless movement of the sun.</p>
<p>No, there is only one whose logic rails<br/>
Against the cosmos’ trivial details.<br/>
He seeks to quantify the stellar fire,<br/>
And wars with truth’s propensity to liars.</p>
<p>And so I come to set the annals clear,<br/>
On whom it is I hold the closest dear.<br/>
It’s he who dreams in strict philosophy:<br/>
It’s thee, Horatio, and never she!</p>
<p>Thou very well may doubt the sun doth move,<br/>
But never doubt my love is made in truth.</p>
<p>Thine always,<br/>
Hamlet</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. ay, in my heart of heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>(These sonnets are supposed to be during the play, before anything really bad happens)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strike>To my lord, Hamlet:</strike>
</p><p>My Prince’s eyes are nothing like the sun;<br/>
They glitter black like dark pools in the night.<br/>
No prize for manly figure has he won,<br/>
His movements more of grace than gallant might.<br/>
To fated indecision is he prone,<br/>
And plans more mad than skillfully thought out,<br/>
But in his morals he is set in stone,<br/>
And to his kingdom nothing but devout.<br/>
His thoughts are often philosophical,<br/>
And range on the morose and morbid side<br/>
(Perchance I’ll catch him lecturing a skull)<br/>
But in me he consistently confides.<br/>
Though delicate and tender he may be,<br/>
No dearer could a person be to me.</p><p> </p><p>Addressed to Horatio, my dearest,</p><p>Inhabit we a stern, unyielding world,<br/>
And until death we shall not find our rest,<br/>
As forced by Canon, live our whole lives through,<br/>
Our mortal coil, bound to keep it furled.<br/>
But more than law, my soul remains abreast,<br/>
The fact, the truth that keeps me here is you.</p><p>Confessed I did to wear thee in my core,<br/>
But limited my troth-uttering then,<br/>
I meant to say that I keep <i>only</i> thee;<br/>
Thine faith alone in my soul do I store,<br/>
For I could stand the wrath and whims of men,<br/>
If I could, as I ache for, love you free.</p><p>      To not Ophelia were letters penned,<br/>
But to thee! Horatio, oh dearest friend.</p><p>He that cherishes thine heart,<br/>
Hamlet</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. as i do thee</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This pair of sonnets is meant to have been written after things have started going badly</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strike>My dear Hamlet:</strike>
</p>
<p>I long for our old days abroad at school,<br/>
Before our lives became a hell on earth,<br/>
Before convening with thine father’s ghoul,<br/>
Before, Hamlet, thou had lost all thy mirth.<br/>
For thou art changèd now and weighed with grief,<br/>
And death our melancholy leitmotif.</p>
<p>Thy words of yearning for oblivion,<br/>
Evoke in me a sorrow nameless great.<br/>
I see thy ploy with truth begin to blend,<br/>
Each day harder for thee to separate,<br/>
Until I fear I’ll lose thee to the morgue,<br/>
Oh why could we not stay at Wittenberg?</p>
<p>But know I’ll stay beside thee to the end,<br/>
And all my love to thee I do extend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>To mine Horatio, whenever thou shalt receive this,</p>
<p>The wheel of time has spun around at last,<br/>
There shall be no more running from my fate.<br/>
Descend I will into the valley vast<br/>
And now complete my task, albeit late<br/>
But though I go, I plead: don’t mourn for me<br/>
Resigned myself I have, and knowest thou:<br/>
I do not set my life at a pin’s fee<br/>
My last act will fulfill my filial vow<br/>
But even through this bluff I’m not at rest<br/>
For I believe the greatest tragedy<br/>
Is not Denmark, is neither pain nor death<br/>
But that I will be forced to part with thee<br/></p>
<p>Before I said “something too much of this,”<br/>
But now, forevermore, that chance I’ve missed.</p>
<p>Thine till the last,<br/>
Hamlet</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. something too much of this</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Horatio's farewell to Hamlet (the final sonnet for now)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sweet Prince,</p><p>I cast thee off, a lone deckhand on shore;<br/>
Staying behind, as all I’ve known is lost.<br/>
It’s thee, foremost, but also Denmark’s lore,<br/>
For Norway now upon the throne is crossed.</p><p>Thou told me to endure and tell thy tale,<br/>
And so I write, spill ink for tragic pasts,<br/>
But every sigh and every shadow frail,<br/>
Reminds me of how dear a soul I’ve lost.</p><p>In life, I was a mooring point for thee;<br/>
I sheltered thee through every passing storm.<br/>
So now I stay, chained to reality,<br/>
The star’s relentless price to keep the norm.</p><p>For thee, I wished to brave the depths of hell,<br/>
And though I’m there, apart from thee I dwell.</p><p>Thy love,<br/>
Horatio</p>
  </div></div>
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